A    B
E|--------1--|
B|---1-------|
G|-----------|
D|-----------|
A|---2----2--|
E|---3----3--|

 this will be played at the beginning of every stanza
E|--------|
B|--------|
G|--------|
D|--------|
A|----2---|
E|--3-----|

        C            A               F              C
i'll consider you my priest, i'll confess to you my sins
Am            E            F                C
sorry father, i'm not sure where i should begin
    Am                   E                 F               C
i've begged and cheated, drank, and beaten devils deep within
      Am                Dm                B
but i suppose we oughta start with who is dead


          C                A              F              C
there's a young man in the wall, but i've covered up the hole
Am                  E            F             C
he looks a lot like me, but he's never growing old
  Am                    E                   F               C
i tucked him there when i awoke, you're the first i've ever told
       Am               Dm               B
well i saved that lousy kid from getting killed

 
       C               A              F              C
see, a painter's never worth a dime before he's underground
Am                   E       F             C
and this kid was the best on every side of town
Am             E               F           C
honest, to the point, with his own special sound
         Am                Dm         B
well the demons, they were coming for him


     C               A          F             C
well he painted what he saw in his brain late at night
Am              E             F               C
staring out the window to the moths in yellow light
  Am                E                   F              C
he painted what the girls said in their sorry tattered tights
       Am               Dm           B
yes he painted till his hands surely bled


   C            A               F              C
   he drew out every government in a single crooked stroke
     Am                 E               F                C
when he stepped back to look at it, his paintbrushes all broke
     Am          E             F            C
they quieted his realizations, lit em up in smoke
        Am          Dm       B
they're nothing but ordinary kids


      C           A         F        C
   he illustrated love by a skeleton pair
Am         E                F              C
two little lovers locked in love's eternal stare
    Am              E                  F               C
with rings on their fingers, but their body's dead and bare
     Am          Dm            B
"till death do we part", not a chance


       C             A               F               C
   his final work of art was when he sat and painted life
  Am          E            F         C
as complex as anything, as simple as contrite
Am           E               F                 C
written on a canvas were two words: hello, goodbye
         Am         Dm                 B
is there really any more to this whole deal?


      C               A              F               C
   by then the demons came they were knocking at his door
   Am                E             F               C
i've memorized their names, it was Drugs, Sex, and War
  Am            E         F              C
i opened up the walls and sealed them in forevermore
     Am                      Dm             B
then i shook their hands and led them to my room!


   C             A               F         C
so thank you now for listening, hail mary full grace
 Am              E           F                 C
i tucked him far away, and i stand here in his place
  Am                     E                 F                C
i'll sing you songs, but more importantly, show you what he paints
         Am            Dm         B
yes he's painted every one of you today


Am                  E              F                  C
thank you now, i'll go in peace to love and serve the lord
Am            E                F             C
just remember all i've said after this final chord
Am             E                 F           C
no one in this whole damn world, no one can afford
Am                   Dm            Am
the pricelessness of ignorance and youth
       Am                F             C
oh, the pricelessness of ignorance and youth